Airdrie served as the Alberta handoff point this week for a cross-border rescue mission that transferred 14 former lab dogs into foster homes across the province.
@air106.1fm 14 rescued lab beagles handed off to Alberta foster families. First time out of the lab. Welcome to freedom. 🐾 #HeroesRescueTour #RescueBeagles #LabToLove #AirdrieDogs #BeagleAlliance #AnimalRescueCanada #FosterDogs #CrueltyFreeFuture #HeroesRescueTour #AdoptDontShop #BeagleRescue #CanadianNonprofit #FreedomRun #FromLabToLove ♬ New Beginnings - The Digital Cowboy
The Maple Way residence served as the staging point, where foster families met the animals for the first time. The Beagle Alliance, a Canadian non-profit, partnered with Kindness Ranch Sanctuary in the United States and Calgary-based Barc's Rescue to coordinate the delivery.
"Lives are saved by coming together and that includes our fosters, who, along with the beagles, are the literal heroes of our organization," said Lori Cohen, founder and executive director of The Beagle Alliance, in a June 3, 2025 news release.
The release noted that the dogs had been scheduled for euthanasia before their transfer was secured through the tri-organization effort. Their next public stops were listed as Tsawwassen and Ladysmith, B.C.
Several foster families from across Alberta gathered at the Maple Way residence Wednesday to meet the dogs. Charity Jordan and Kiara Pelletier travelled from Calgary to pick up one of the beagles.
"We were looking for specifically another beagle rescue, because we already have a beagle, and he works well with other beagles," said Jordan. "We were just interested in fostering something similar to that, because we have experience."
Pelletier said the group was not given full background details on each dog but understood that it was a major transition.
"They mentioned that it's their first time being out of the facilities, so it's going to be a lot of new stuff for them," she said.
When asked what drew them to the breed, both answered at once.
"I just think they're so silly," said Jordan.
The pair said they were "excited" before the handoff.
Lori Cohen told attendees the dogs had only recently been removed from the lab environment.
"These guys have been out of the lab only seven days," she said during the June 4 event. "Usually, our rescue partner gets them out and takes a little bit of time with them, so they're a little bit more social. But in this case, they really have only been out seven days."
She encouraged foster families to focus on the dogs' futures rather than dwell on their past in the lab.
"Try very hard not to spend too much time thinking about what happened to them in the lab," Cohen said.
"What happens then is that you dote on them," she added, smiling. "And they'll take you for everything you got, because they're beagles."
The Beagle Alliance, she added, is entirely reliant on foster homes.
"We couldn't get dogs without you," Cohen told the group. "We're a foster-based organization. We don't have a facility, and their lives literally depend on you."
The organization says on its website that beagles "are the primary breed of dog used in research because they are friendly, don't bite back, and are forgiving."
The Beagle Alliance is a CRA-registered Canadian charity whose stated goal is to provide freedom, care and permanent homes to animals used in experimental research and situations of abuse, including pound release, puppy mills and senior abandonment.
According to its website, the group also works with shelters, law enforcement and confidential sources, including whistleblowers, to identify animals requiring urgent rescue.
It also operates across all provinces, territories and parts of the Midwestern United States, rehoming dogs, cats and farm animals removed from labs or neglect cases.
The organization noted in its June 3 release that more than 16,000 dogs are used annually in Canadian research and most are euthanized. It advocates for post-research adoption, citing the absence of any law requiring the release of animals from public or private facilities in Canada.
"I think we all want the same thing – to make sure the animals have a bright future," Cohen said in the release.
The organization said most Canadians are unaware that dogs are still used in animal testing in Canada.
According to the release, the U.S. National Institutes of Health announced the closure of its final beagle lab earlier this year — a shift the group described as a move toward human-based methods.
Facilities, public and private in Canada, are not bound by law to release animals after scientific use. The organization also notes there is no federal governing body overseeing animal treatment in Canada, and that testing on animals has been shown to be both ineffective and costly.
The release states that the Canadian Centre for Alternatives to Animal Methods, which focused on non-animal research, shut down late last year due to a lack of funding.
"This is a huge step forward in efforts to move away from animal research and emphasizes how far behind Canada is in animal protections, specifically those animals in research," Cohen said.
The Beagle Alliance's 2024–2025 annual report states it rescued 35 beagles in 2024, including dogs from South Korean and U.S. laboratories.
Seven additional dogs rescued that year were described as abandoned, surrendered, neglected, or special needs.
Since 2022, the organization has placed 60 former research dogs in adoptive homes, including five placed in Canada after being transferred from the Envigo breeding facility in the United States.
Additional 2024 cases involved six dogs from a Texas laboratory.
"Once adopted, they live the life all dogs should — in a home, on a couch, going for walks, being loved," the organization states on its website.
The Airdrie handoff marked the Alberta stop on a three-city western leg of the tour — the beagles' first step toward home.
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